Contents

Smith was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but moved to Corona, California at a young age.[1] He spent summers in Tulsa, however, and cites experiences there as inspirations for his work, saying that "[o]nce you've seen a 100-foot cement buffalo on top of a donut-stand (sic) in the middle of nowhere, you're never the same."

He studied art at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, at the encouragement of his high-school art teacher, Dan Baughman, helping to pay for it by working as a janitor at Disneyland. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration, and moved to New York City, where he was hired to do illustrations for various publications including TIME, Mother Jones and Ms..

Smith is married to Molly Leach, a book designer who has designed many award-winning books, including nearly all of Smith's books.

Smith is most noted for his work on children's books. Smith has illustrated works by Florence Parry Heide, Judith Viorst, Bob Shea, Dr. Seuss, Jack Prelutsky, Eve Merriam, Roald Dahl and George Saunders. He has both written and illustrated several books, too, most notably It's a Book in 2010 which was a New York Times bestseller for over six months and has been translated into over twenty languages, Madam President in 2008, and John, Paul, George, and Ben in 2006. In 2012, he received a Caldecott Medal honor for the book Grandpa Green.